Testimonials

Jamie Goode II
Lynchpin has been the subject of a glowing review by influential UK wine writer Jamie Goode, on this website www.wineanorak.com, under the heading Refinement from Cloof:
 “There's a lovely complex, aromatic gravelly, minerally nose with a subtle hint of greenness to the berry fruits. The palate is concentrated, refined and well balanced, showing fresh red and black fruits with a distinctly mineralic edge framing the fruit nicely. Nothing sticks out at all: it certainly shows no signs of over-ripeness. There's the structure here for long ageing.”

Three days later he added:
“showing well still, with lovely chalky minerality and some real elegance, which makes me think it's a reasonably ageworthy wine”

Scotland on Sunday – Will Lyons
4 March 2007 (The Cloof Cellar Blend 2004)
"Not for lovers of subtle wines, but if big, fat, juicy easy-drinking red is your bag, this will not disappoint."

Off Licence News - October 2006

Master of Wine (MW) Tim Atkin has singled out Cloof as a “winery to watch”:

 “Situated a mere six miles from the Atlantic Ocean in one of South Africa’s most dynamic regions, Cloof has taken a sizeable step forward since it changed owners in 2002. The wines here are flag-wavingly New World in style, but they manage to combine flavour and high alcohol levels with drinkability.

Unusually for Darling, the focus is on red wines, with Cabernet, Pinotage and Shiraz (never Syrah!) the main focus. The Cloof Crucible Shiraz is one of the Cape’s best, but the Cellar Blend is a big, bold number that could give the Barossa valley a run for its power and concentration. Subtle it ain’t, but it’s a delicious wine.”

Jamie Goode
Top UK wine writer Jamie Goode has lavished attention (and praise) on The Cloof Cellar Blend on his website www.wineanorak.com:

“Spicy, dark, intense, tannic, this is a bit of a beast of a wine. The nose shows sweet berries with a hint of chalky minerality, some jamminess and a touch of tar. The palate combines very sweet fruit with some grippy tannins and a bit of spice, and in the background there's just a tiny hint of greenness. It's one of those wines that has that characteristic of deliciousness: it's robust, concentrated and moreish …the sort of wine that if you open it with friends, the bottle will very soon be drained. Very good+ 89/100”

Neil Pendock, Sunday Times (South Africa, 23 January 2005)
Cloof Dusty Road Rosé ’04
If Barbra Streisand can sing about stony ends then Oscar Foulkes is quite entitled to a dusty road. This former Woodstock wine retailing whiz is now energising Cloof winery in Darling and this flavoursome rosé is in the style of those value-for-money mystery wines he made his name with.

Cloof Crucible Shiraz 2003
Naming your flagship wine “crucible” just as KWV admits to finding funny flavourants in their wine lab, is up there with calling your sushi restaurant Tsunami. If Shiraz likes a warm climate, then a crucible should produce an extreme form — which is what this cracker-jack Cloof is, in spades